I saw a video about a 1200 Horsepower Duramax combo the other day and how expensive it is to get to that power level with a diesel, and it blew me away. Sure they make insane torque at those levels, but is it really worth it? Some will say yes, others no. What do you think? On the one hand I look at how awesome a Duramax, Cummins, or Powerstroke pulls in stock form and how great their respective trucks have become at being the ultimate tow vehicles. Personally, an exhaust, cold air, and maybe a minor tune would be all I’d every do to one. I don’t seen how anyone needs more than 1000 lb ft to pull a trailer to the races or vacation. Of course nobody needs 1200 horsepower in their street car either, and I’ve got that. So I see it both ways.
But what about that same technology that is allowing a 1200 horsepower gas or e85 combo to be drivable on the street? What if instead of 6.6L of diesel power we had 6 L of turbo LS power under the hood? With the right combo, 750 horsepower and 800-900 lb ft of torque are easily and reliably attained. Turbocharged combos in particular make BIG torque and love to be loaded. So is that enough? It would be for me I think. I’m debating whether to do the turbo combo with an LS vs a Big Block in my Square Body Dually.
Regardless of which one I choose, the number of aftermarket parts is pretty small since I wouldn’t be spinning it to the moon. But will it still tow? What do you think?
Are BIG dollar high horsepower diesel engine builds worth the money or is a turbo gasoline combo way more doable?
No , It’s not worth it . Go for gas , plus it run smoother and stink less.
I was thinking the same thing, I\’ve got a crew cab dually as well and problygonna build a motor for it next spring. The obvious tow motor is a cummins but I drive this truck every day and short daily runs with that diesel are just gonna burn it up pre macherly, a mild big block with fuel injection and overdrive is not only affordable but easy to maintain and pull just fine and be a good daily driver. Just my 2cents
I’ve generally viewed big horsepower diesel builds as either an attempt to improve the existing engine in one’s work truck or an exercise in squeezing power out of something less expected, depending on what level of power you go for. They generally haven’t made sense if the goal is “the maximum power you can get into such and such a vehicle”.
When honestly, are the oem power levels of diesels not enough to do the job in the chassis it was stuffed into.
Isn\’t this just a pole measuring contest?
I get it, more power. problem I have with it. is no one, or I should state almost no one tries to make more power and not have it rolling coal.
Diesel builds/performance only poking the eyes of the grennies and the epa.
Spending the huge money on diesels might make sense if they were still backed engines with only 4 gears. then overdrive.
But today we have 6/7/8/10 speeds to work with the gas engine that makes the lack of that diesel torque a non issue. And they won\’t be posting video\’s on you tube of \”rolling coal\” to piss off people. and give the whole performance vehicle hobby a black eye.
Gas engines producing Diesel levels of torque will not last nearly as long as a Diesel and the efficiency is simply not there. When I did work truck class pulling I drove to the event getting 22mph, wicked up the tuner to kill and put down about 1100 ftlbs. This is in a truck with 280k on the clock. I’m on my 3rd Cummins powered Dodge the weak link the first 2 times was the interior one the bodies which don’t last nearly as long as the power plant. Diesels cost more but I’ve only had catastrophic failures on gas engines.
Simple answer for me is yes. You will never have the durability or efficiency in a gasoline engine as you will a diesel.Period.
Diesels will loose reliability at the higher levels plus it’s hard to put those big numbers to the pavement. Stock the diesel will have better towing efficiency but you can get reliable power out of a gas engine and not spend a fortune to get it.